Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

While waiting for the entries for UMK2023 aka Finland's national selection for Eurovision song contest let's look back at some of the best non winning ones from yesteryear. While we are at it, let's take yet another Petri Laaksonen's entry. In 1988 he teamed up with Eurovision 1983 veteran Ami Aspelund and created this very catchy, very Eurovision at the time arrangement with a touch of Slavic male choir with Southern European cliches but it works wonders but sadly placed only third. Ami never recorded this one but Amor Amor reappeard of another Eurovision veteran Sonja Lumme's album a few years after with a tuned down arrangement . And yes, you guessed it. Finland's winner Boulevard placed second to last with 3 points in Dublin. No comment. 

In the post- Despacito era also Finnish artists are taking the Latin sounds to their own and we have some surprising hits in the charts. Evelina 's Sun vika hit the airways already in winter and despite being labeled as Havana wannabe has found its way to the radiowaves. Abreu goes back to her Portuguese roots and throws in a lot of Latin flavor to her Amor amor while Mikael Gabriel hits gold with his Naapurit kuulee . Another rapper turned into pop singer Nikke Ankara also has his share of Latin vibe in his Rikkinäinen prinsessa .  I suspect we will get some more of this stuff in coming weeks and months, thankst to the heatwave we are enjoying in this hottest May ever.... Ay que calor!